For my final column of the year I would like to acknowledge and give kudos to two of the finest golf leagues being conducted in the Chestermere area and that would be Lakeside Greens’ Ladies and Mens Leagues.
Lakeside Ladies League
I had the pleasure this year of organizing the Lakeside Ladies League on Tuesday nights. Like the men, non members were invited to join for a nominal fee which gave them a priority to book their tee times, reduced green fees and to join in on the weekly competitions. Each week we had a variety of competitions that were designed to appeal to both the experienced golfer or the beginner. Each Tuesday we had 50 to 60 ladies sign up for the competition with presentations and refreshments to follow in the lounge.
The Food Bank was a charity the ladies adopted and made it a priority to help out. Donations were collected each week and on one Tuesday night I videoed over 50 of the ladies with swing analysis in return for a food or cash donation. That night we collect nearly $700 and a massive amount of food. Well done ladies! The ladies windup was a red and white day where everyone dressed up including their golf carts. It was a huge success with a great dinner and prizes. The highlite that night was a cheque for $1415 to be delivered to the food bank!
In all we had 94 ladies signup for the league and we will be looking to make it bigger and better next year! Thank you to Ladies President Susan Barham and members Anne Madge, Rhonda Pelletier and Kin Rucki for all your hard work!
Lakeside Mens League
The Lakeside Mens League just finish up a hugely successful second season using a team format. Three years ago mens night was an individual format attracting around 40 to 60 players. Moving to a team format and allowing non members to join the league immediately attracted 150 players. Captains are picked and a draft takes place to build the teams. This year we had ten teams with 15 players on each team.
Play takes play on Wednesday nights using the first nine holes and has players with handicaps ranging from scratch to 36. Two best gross scores and four best net scores count for each team along with individual prizes. Perhaps the biggest incentive each Wednesday was not to be the “most useless bastard” on your team when the scores are posted on the big screen in the lounge. As a participant myself, it was one of my highlites of the week to tee it up with my friends, post a score and hopefully help out the team.
Bob Dubray and Chris Morys have been instrumental in the success of this league and they should be recognized for all their hard work. This year Bob came up with a great idea to hold playoffs similar to the fedex cup. We had the top five teams competing for the championship and the bottom five for the consolation. Congratulations to Tim Reid who captained the Shankendrinkers to Championship winners!
Head Professional Tom Lee, Director of Golf Glenn Carr and their staff also deserve to be recognized for all their hard work putting together the prizes and calculating all the scores each week!
Both leagues will be looking for new players next year so if this type of fun and format is of interest to you contact the Lakeside proshop in the spring for details.
Final Thoughts On The Year
The golf season got off to a great start this year with golf courses opening on March 25. Courses were never in better shape and although July was full of rain I thought we had a great year for golf! Hopefully you saw your game improve this year and learned a few new things. I received many complements on my weekly golf tips and I thank you for passing those along. My goal was to help you improve and increase your enjoyment for the game. Always remember it is just a game and what is most important is the challenge the game offers but even more importantly is the social side of the game.
Enjoy your off season and hopefully some golf down south and I look forward to helping you out next year with some new golf tips to help you play YOUR best golf!
